President Biden met with three Democratic groups on Friday to lobby Congress in an attempt to quell unrest within his party over his candidacy.
In meetings arranged through the campaign arms of each group, Biden met with members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, and was also scheduled to meet with members of the New Democrat Coalition, a group of centrist lawmakers whose members have called on Biden to step down as a candidate.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment about the meeting, which took place ahead of the president’s campaign trip to Michigan.
Some House Democrats have said Biden should drop out of the race, but leaders of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus have backed him.
“I can tell you from the conversations we’ve had at CHC member meetings that it’s been very positive,” Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chair Nanette Barragan (D-Calif.) said Monday.
“I support the president,” she added. “I’m not here to talk about risk percentages. I support the president. I think he can win, and he has already won.”
Multiple members New Democratic Party Coalition Leading Democrats have said, including as recently as Thursday night, that Biden should step aside, with Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif., saying in a private call with Democratic leaders last Sunday that he supports a change at the top of the nomination list.
Friday’s meeting came after Biden spoke Thursday night with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., who said he conveyed the House Democratic caucus’ views on Biden’s reelection bid.
“In my conversation with President Biden, I directly conveyed the extensive insights, heartfelt views and conclusions about the way forward that our caucus shared in our recent meeting,” he added.
Jeffries did not get specific about those sentiments, nor did he offer his personal views on Biden’s reelection effort.
Biden has been steadily losing support in Congress this week, with more lawmakers calling on him to withdraw as a candidate almost daily. Calls for change have grown following Biden’s disastrous performance in the June 27 debate, when he was unable to finish his arguments and land a major blow to former President Trump.
Eighteen Democrats in Congress have publicly called on Biden to withdraw as a candidate, and several others have expressed concern about whether Biden can beat Trump in November’s presidential election.
Despite these concerns, the president has maintained he is the best person for the job and has dismissed calls for him to withdraw from the race.
“There’s still a long way to go in this campaign,” Biden said at a news conference Thursday, “so I’m just going to keep moving forward. I’m going to keep moving forward, because I’ve still got work to do.”
The president is expected to campaign over the next few days as he looks to reignite his re-election bid.
Biden will visit the key battleground state of Michigan on Friday, campaigning with supporters in Detroit, then travel to Texas on Monday to deliver a speech focused on civil rights and sit down for an interview with NBC’s Lester Holt. Biden is also scheduled to appear in Nevada next week for events with the NAACP and UnidosUS.
Michael Schnell contributed
